Historically, vinyl flooring, wall coverings, and other products, such as artificial leather, have been decorated via analog printing methods, such as gravure. Cushion flooring and wall coverings are a popular product and patterns within the cushion are created by the printing of a chemical inhibitor which stops the formation of the bubbles which creates the cushion effect.
Due to the width and length of the vinyl flooring rolls and the speed of the process, as well as the investment in hundreds of huge gravure cylinders, the industry has moved relatively slowly towards digital printing. In recent years, the reliability and throughput of wide format UV curing printers has increased significantly and the economics for printing vinyl flooring and wall coverings has become much more interesting. For example, with certain UV ink formulations it has been possible to change the printing process from analog to digital and get good print quality and robustness of construction, i.e. adhesive strength between the print and the other layers.